


Combiner Wars: Prologue

by WalkTheTyrannosaur



Series: Transformers - Combiner Wars [1]
Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers Generation One, Transformers: Combiner Wars (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Retelling, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Gestalt (Transformers), Robotic Body Horror
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-09
Updated: 2018-09-09
Packaged: 2019-07-08 20:44:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15937946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WalkTheTyrannosaur/pseuds/WalkTheTyrannosaur
Summary: The Cybertronian Civil Wars have been waging for thousands of years, with no end in sight. In the midst of the conflict, young scientific engineer named Wheeljack is assigned to a mission to investigate strange readings detected deep within Autobot territory. What he and his fellow Autobots discover there will change the course of the war forever...





	Combiner Wars: Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This work is set within an original Transformers continuity of my own design. As a result, characters may differ from their established characterizations in order to fit the story. They have no connection to the events of the "Combiner Wars" or "Prime Wars Trilogy" as told by Machinima, IDW Comics, or any of the promotional information, toys, video games, or other media that touched upon these events other than as a source of inspiration.

_Hundreds. No,_ thousands _of years of war._

_We were a civilization that grew stagnant while fighting an endless conflict. A conflict whose opening sparks were inflamed by those we’d empowered to feel they had the right to lord over us, and persisted by hatreds that refused to die. While other civilizations rose and fell, we were killing each other and our planet bit by bit._

_For many of us, the cause still mattered. Whether it was out of belief in justice or conquest, some of us still fought with purpose. But there were also those who had simply resigned themselves to a war without end. Then there were born into war, and had never known any other life than fighting._

_Little did we know that a change was coming. We had no idea that we were part of something so much bigger than our own home planet of Cybertron, and that events eons in the making would soon be coming to bear upon us all._

_It all started with an event. A phenomenon._

_**An enigma.** _

* * *

Wheeljack hummed to himself as he went about his work. He was where he was happiest: tinkering with his machines in his laboratory. A laboratory that was actually more of a garage, arranged in a way that could best be described as “organized” chaos, and located quite a distance away from the other facilities in the Autobot encampment.

It had once been closer to the other buildings, but there had been some… _accidents_.

The encampment wasn’t a front-line position, of course. It was well within territory the Autobots had held for quite a while, and it was their job to keep it that way. Such a posting suited the inventor just fine. He didn’t need to worry about the possibility of an all out attack or being out in the trenches. Instead, Wheeljack could put all of his energy into what he was good at, and what he was good at was developing new machines to aid the Autobot cause.

If only his superiors saw it that way. Yes, maybe more than a few of his inventions had failed to function properly, and maybe _several_ of them had exploded violently. And maybe more than one of them had turn against their masters and grievously wounded a superior officer, but that was no reason to underestimate his potential or undersell his accomplishments!

But it was still probably a good idea that they’d moved his lab far away from everything else. Doing otherwise was just asking for trouble.

“ _Wheeljack!”_

The white and green-colored Autobot jumped in his seat and let out a yelp, his laser scalpel clattering to the floor as he dropped it. Wheeljack flailed for a moment before spinning his seat around and sputtering, whereupon he saw a blue and orange Autobot with large feet and optics like a pair of swimming goggles standing in the doorway to his lab.

“Outburst!” Wheeljack wheezed, as he tried to calm himself down. “Don’t surprise me like that! And you know you have to wait for me to open the blast doors… for all you know I could have been experimenting on Tox-en or something in here.”

Outburst simply glared at him. “I _did_ wait,” he replied flatly. “I buzzed you, like, ten times. You didn’t answer. So I used my code to get in”

Wheeljack gaped, before he sighed, and in an effort to save face, said, “Oh, I’m so sorry! The buzzer must be on the fritz again!”

Outburst simply reached behind the door frame, where he found the buzzer and pressed it. Immediately, a loud, almost siren-like whine sounded throughout the lab.

“... or I could have just been that absorbed in my work,” Wheeljack surrendered.

“Whatever,” Outburst growled, sounding more than a little irritated. “Commander Crossfire says he wants you to join us for a recon mission. Our sensor post caught some _weird_ readings out in Sector Hydra. Get your skidplate ready to roll out in twenty breems.”

Wheeljack blinked his optics, as the crests protruding from the sides of his helmet glowed and flickered quizzically. “Crossfire wants me on a recon mission? _Me?”_

Outburst shrugged in what was clearly frustration. “He said this is up your alley, alright?! Besides, you’re the only science officer this outpost has. Now get a move on!”

“But I’m in the middle of-”

“ _Get. A. Move. On.”_

That was all Outburst said, before stomping out of the laboratory, leaving Wheeljack alone with his bewilderment and his work half-completed. It was fine, though, the distraction of leaving it half-finished would not trouble him for very long.

Because moments later, the faulty power crystal he’d installed in it would send all its parts shooting across the room.

* * *

In a little over twenty breems, Wheeljack had set off on a scouting mission with his commanding officer Crossfire, Outburst, and a fourth Autobot named Skirmish. As they left, Wheeljack had been given the explanation that readings similar to the energy signature given off by an active space bridge had appeared in Sector Hydra, prompting him to gather his assortment of custom-made scanning equipment.

This was a very concerning matter, to say the least, and it required his best equipment. Normally, space bridges required a receiver on both ends to transport objects from one place to the next. Whatever these readings meant, they presented the possibility that either a space bridge receiver had secretly been set up in their territory, or that someone had managed to create a space bridge that could connect two points _without_ a receiver.

That presented a number of disturbing possibilities, the most concerning of them being that the Decepticons had developed a way to get their troops behind Autobot lines.

As for Wheeljack’s companions, they were less on edge than Wheeljack himself. The scientist didn’t care much for being in the field, though ironically, he’d been injured in his lab more often than he had in a fight with any Decepticon. Skirmish, who turned into a red and black motorcycle of Earthling design, seemed particularly eager to get out and have an adventure.

“Just think, if a bunch of Decepticons _did_ find a way to bridge into Autobot territory, we’ll be the first to expose them!” the scout exclaimed, swaying her front wheel back and forth excitedly as the four of them drove to their destination. “We’ll be heroes, guys!”

“You have a very, _very_ generous definition of what makes someone a hero,” Outburst growled, gliding across the ground in his hovercraft mode.

“That’s enough, soldiers,” Crossfire said sternly. “Let’s focus on doing our jobs rather than on any delusions of grandeur.”

On Crossfire’s word, the pair immediately fell silent. There was something about Crossfire that made even the surly and irritable Outburst fall in line. That did not, however, stop Wheeljack from being concerned, both about the mission and his potentially being in the line of fire with a temperamental boat-bot and a wet behind the ears scout.

Wheeljack cared more for his inventions and technological marvels than he did fieldwork. And while he had his wild side, he preferred to express it where he could safely make sport of it. But alas, the old racing circuits and clubs he’d frequented in his youth were long gone. Oh well, perhaps whatever mystery laying in wait for them would be suitably fascinating.

It was then that Wheeljack was roused from his ruminations by the blaring of his sensors’ proximity alerts.

The scientist transformed immediately, assuming his robot mode and slotting a scanning device out of his arm, where it had been stored while in vehicle mode. “That… that can’t be right!” he gasped as he read the device’s screen, both the crests of his helmet flickering with excitement and confusion.

The three other Autobots followed suit, assuming their own robot modes. Crossfire was the tallest of the group, fitting his commanding stature, and had a pair of cannons mounted on his back. He wore a faceplate, which many said made him look like “leader” material. Skirmish, meanwhile, was as diminutive in robot mode as she was in vehicle mode, with a mask-like helm and two of her wheels mounted behind her like a pair of wings.

“Don’t keep us in suspense, Wheeljack,” said Crossfire. “You are the one with the equipment, after all.”

Wheeljack was already marching forward, spurred on both by wonderment, curiosity, and minor dread. “This… this isn’t related to a space bridge at all!” he exclaimed. “The readings I’m picking up, they’re identical to the radiation given off by a ‘blue flash’!”

Outburst and Skirmish exchanged confused glances, while Crossfire’s optics widened in surprise. “Are you serious?” he said, beginning to follow after his science officer. “But a hot spot hasn’t been discovered in…”

“In _hectocycles!”_ Wheeljack cried excitedly, as he ran towards what appeared to be the top of a hill.

“Uhm,” murmured Skirmish, as she and Outburst hurried after them, before speaking more loudly. “A hot spot… that’s where sparks come from, right?”

Crossfire looked back at him, and nodded. “That’s right, birthing fields that grew up all over Cybertron, appearing along energon seams. Before the war, they were numerous, but escalating hostilities forced both sides to cultivate protoformed sparks en masse, leaving them fallow.”

“Uh huh,” Outburst grunted. “What does that have to do with all of this? I came on-line after the war was already 200 stellar cycles old – my elemental programming didn’t care if I knew what a ‘blue flash’ was.”

“Are you serious?” Crossfire asked, with a disbelieving tone that seemed uncharacteristic for how put-together he came across. What he followed it up with, he did while shaking his head, saying, “Our people’s basic history, already being forgotten...”

“When a hot spot becomes active, it gives off a burst of radiation!” Wheeljack explained excitedly, as he followed his scanner. “It’s the combined energy of thousands of sparks suddenly becoming active due to the ignition of naturally occurring Energon! Strangely enough, despite the fact that sparks can be any number of colors depending on polarity, the light it gives off is always blue due to the way such waveforms are dispersed through our atmosphere…!”

“Uh, not that that what you’re saying isn’t completely fascinating, doc, but you need to watch where you’re goin..” Outburst started to say, while Wheeljack droned on nonetheless, his eyes locked upon his scanner.

“What’s more, the pulse from Cybertron’s core, which ignites the energon beneath a hot spot, seems to carry information, which helps instruct the proto-matter that forms our bodies to take rudimentary shape, becoming protoforms!”

“Uhm, Wheeljack…” Crossfire and Skirmish said, joining in with Outburst.

“The implications of this discovery are astounding! These could first sparks to be cultivated since the war began! And if we can manage to reproduce this phenomenon, we could-”

“ _ **WHEELJACK!”**_

Crossfire’s voice rang out with uncharacteristic force as he reached out and grabbed hold of the vehicle panels attached to Wheeljack’s arm. Wheeljack was pulled back, and just in time, as his superior had stopped him from tumbling over the edge of a crater.

In that crater, was something that gave all four Autobots cause to stare.

First of all, there was the fact that it was a _crater_. Not a valley glowing with the embers of new life, but a crater. A rather sizable crater, as it happened to be, but a crater nonetheless. It wasn’t an impact crater, however, as the surface of it was not shattered or concave from a meteorite or explosion, but instead semi-liquid, shining like liquid chrome, and strangely _writhing_.

“What… what the scrap…?” Crossfire gasped, his professional demeanor slipping away again as he tried to make sense of what lay before him.

Wheeljack just stared in silence, but not out of shock, as he recognized what it was they were looking at at. He’d never worked with protoforms personally, but he knew the science behind them, and the substance within the crater was _cybermatter: t_ he raw building blocks of Cybertronian life, the substance protoforms were composed before their amorphous bodies took a defined shape.

There was a literal pool of cybermatter, right in front of him. Created without the flash of newly birthed sparks, and without the presence of protoforms. In a sense, this was a pool of Cybertronian _flesh_.

But that wasn’t _all_ that was in there.

Wheeljack’s optics were soon drawn towards an object at the center of the crater. The exact center, Wheeljack soon determined, as his optics and scanning instruments worked together to tell him the rim of the crater was in fact a perfect circle. That didn’t interest Wheeljack very much, however, as he focused both his internal and external sensors on the object itself.

The object was floating within a pink halo of light, and its presence seemed to send ripples through the cybermatter, which seemed to be what was making it writhe The object itself had a spherical core from which the glow was emanating, and the core itself was surrounded by four, outwardly pointing triangles that were joined to it by their corners.

“...And more important, what the heck is _that?!_ ” Outburst asked, pointing directly at it. A conversation had been going on while Wheeljack was paying more attention to the phenomenon, and the sound of Outburst’s rising temper snapped him out of it.

“I’m the last person who’d have any idea,” Crossfire sighed. “Do you have any clue, Wheeljack?”

“Weeell,” Wheeljack replied, as he righted himself, “I have absolutely _no idea_. None of us will until we get it back to the encampment and study it. I can rig up a containment field in my lab for it... it’s probably the source of both the space bridge readings _and_ the metamorphic radiation.”

Once again, Wheeljack felt Crossfire’s firm hand on his arm, and he stopped, finding that while he’d been talking, he’d started to walk forward.

“There’s no way I’m letting you wade into that,” his commander said just as firmly. “Outburst, I’ll have you stay here with Wheeljack as he gathers more readings. Skirmish and I will return and get a team together, bring environmental shielding. And… oh by the eternal lifespark, I’d better contact command…”

Wheeljack gave a flustered nod. “Oh. Y-yes, yes, of course.”

“Uh, we might not even get a chance to get it back!” Skirmish exclaimed, suddenly. “Look!”

Rising over the ridge across from them, on the other side of the crater, were three more Cybertronians. The one in the middle was immediately recognizable to the Autobots, with his armor being colored a distinct shade of purple, an arm cannon, and a head that consisted almost entirely of a single, glowing, yellow optic.

This was Shockwave, one of the Decepticon leader Megatron’s key lieutenants and his chief science adviser.

The other two were less recognizable, but cut a distinct profile nonetheless. One had a frame that almost seemed to be modeled as a mimicry of of Shockwave’s, with a louder shade of purple, green accents, a much larger arm cannon, and a scanning visor that had a single green sensor, as if it were meant to imitate Shockwave’s cyclopean appearance. However, this seemed to be part of her helm, not her face, and where Shockwave lacked any other features, this Decepticon clearly had a mouth.

The third Decepticon was much smaller, with armor a deep shade of black, foregoing any secondary colors, and his face was covered by a ridged plate. In both his hands, he carried what appeared to be red-colored, solitarium-edged daggers. The wheels visible on both his shoulders indicated a ground-based alternate mode, most likely some kind of automobile.

“Well well well!” said the vividly colored imitator on Shockwave’s left, her voice loud, shrill, and unnecessarily theatrical. “It seems my readings were correct after all, Shockwave! I believe credit is to be given where credit is due, yes?”

“You surmised that these readings were evidence of an Autobot space bridge experiment, Mastermind,” Shockwave said, calmly, his voice not betraying even a hint of emotion. “This is clearly not a space bridge.”

Mastermind” balked at this, and muttered resentfully, “W-well, a discovery is still a discovery.”

“Master,” said the dark-colored Decepticon, pointing across the crater with one of his daggers. “Autobots.”

It was then that Wheeljack and the others were standing out in the open, plain as day to three Decepticons, having had no opportunity to take cover or hide. While Wheeljack and the other two lower-ranking soldiers shied backwards, Crossfire strode forward with practiced confidence.

“Decepticon Chief Science Officer Shockwave!” he cried. “This area is within Autobot territory, and thus under our protection. I must insist that you and your… _colleagues_ leave this place immediately.”

On hearing Crossfire’s words, Mastermind’s face lit up as if she heard a good joke, while the third of their group stood silently, showing no emotion. Shockwave proved the same, save for his optic briefly pulsing with light as he acknowledged Crossfire’s presence.

“Autobot,” he said, perfectly calm as he lifted and took aim with his arm cannon. “We are at _war_.”

With a single blast of his weapon, the battle began.

As the energy blasts started to fly, Wheeljack found himself running for cover, the servos in his legs compelling him to move faster than his own processor. However, as Shockwave’s blast flew past both him and Crossfire, who was also moving to evade, they found themselves thrown forward by the sheer force of the attack. Shockwave continued firing, as Crossfire pulled himself to his feet and drew twin blasters of his own, returning fire. Outburst and Skirmish joined in with their own weapons, an arm cannon and a missile launcher respectively, while the one named Mastermind took to the air, taking the form of a satellite, with her own arm cannon taking the shape of a weapon’s array. The dark-colored Decepticon, meanwhile, simply disappeared from view.

“Well, you wanted to see action, kid” Outburst said to Skirmish, sounding irritated as he stumbled away from another one of Shockwave’s cannon blasts, “here’s your chance!”

“I-I didn’t think I’d be taking on one of Megatron’s inner circle!” the rookie replied, nervously.

Wheeljack, meanwhile, was cursing himself and trying to find his bearings. He had no idea what to do — he had only brought scientific equipment with him, and no weapons.

 _I’m a liability here,_ he decided to himself. _I need to to get someplace where-_

Suddenly, a dark colored blur leaped out into view, seized Wheeljack in a hold, and pressed his dagger against his throat.

 _... where I can’t be used against everyone else,”_ Wheeljack finished his thought, muttering “Scrap” out loud as Shockwave’s Cyber Ninja minion called out to Crossfire.

“Autobot commander!” he hissed, his voice sharp like a razor snake’s. “You will drop your weapons immediately and surrender, or your subordinate’s mech fluid will soon paint the ground!”

Crossfire’s optics widened, and he wheeled around. “Wheeljack!” he exclaimed, his voice full of worry. “Don’t worry, I’ll-!”

“D-don’t!” Wheeljack cried out suddenly. “Don’t worry about me, Commander! You can’t give into these Decepticons! T-This d-discovery is too important!”

Wheeljack’s voice grew more unsure-sounding and high-pitched the longer he pleaded, making him sound less resolute than he meant to. It gave Crossfire reason to pause, even as weapons fire hailed down around him… but he nodded nonetheless, raising his blaster to take a shot at the Decepticon...

Only for him to collapse to his knees, holding his head in pain as waves projected from Mastermind’s array rained down upon him. “Meahahahahaha!” the airborne Decepticon cackled. “You Autobots are no match for my psycho waves! Once again, the great Mastermind succeeds where Shockwave simply-AHHH!”

Mastermind let out a scream as she was struck by both Skirmish and Outburst’s weapons fire, sending her hurtling through the air. All optics on the battlefield widened as she flew every which way, unable to keep herself stable, her crash course being clear: she was falling straight into the crater _._

She hit the pool of liquid metal with a splash, her array’s cannon striking against the artifact with a deep “clong” at the same time. Quickly, she shifted into robot mode and let out a groan of disgust. “This is revolting!” she snarled. “I’m covered in… in body fluid! Literal _body_ fluid!”

Unfortunately, Mastermind didn’t have much opportunity to further share her revulsion. The cybermatter began oozing up along her body, making her look like she was being swallowed up by the chrome-colored liquid. Her optics flickered with desperation behind her visor, and she looked towards her commander. “S-shockwave! Commander! _You have to help me!_ ”

Shockwave simply stared at her for a moment, before he activated an energy shield around his person and began stepping backwards. “Mastermind, I fear you are _all_ beyond help now.”

Wheeljack swallowed a gulp, as Mastermind mouthed confusion. “This… this is going to be bad,” he said, even as even his captor gaped at what was starting to happen. Mastermind had somehow activated the object by disturbing it, and it was not only rising into the air, it seemed to be powering up, as indicated by a loud hum and the halo of light around it beginning to grow.

What happened next happened in an instant. A brilliant light flashed from the artifact, overwhelming their vision, and everyone present felt an energy passing through them, causing them to feel as if their entire bodies had become fluid were fluid – still “solid”, but as if a change were rolling through them, inch by inch.

Then, they started to hear each other’s thoughts.

_< What’s happening to me?!>_

_< What… what the slag?! I didn’t sign up for _this! _>_

_< Everyone, no… I… I let this happen!>_

_< This is...how do I even explain this?!>_

_< SHOCKWAVE! THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!>_

_< Master! Master help me!>_

_< I’vefailedyouallNOSTOPIDONTWANTTOCHANGEijustwantedtogoonamissionSHOCKWAVEWHATSHAPPENINGmasterMISSIONcrossfirethisyourEVERYONESTAYCALMletmefigurethisOUT **wEaReONe!!! >** _

Wheeljack’s body jerked as five other voices resounded in his mind. No. No. _Six_ voices. And it wasn’t Shockwave’s… it was something… something _new_. Something that seemed to come from _within_. From within himself and the others, at the same time. Wheeljack then realized that the Decepticon holding him at bay had released him, and was staggering forward, his body moving as if it were by a will other than his own.

In fact, Crossfire, Outburst, Skirmish, and Mastermind were all staggering towards one another, looking as if they were being puppeted as well. There was cybermatter crawling all over their bodies, absorbing itself into their bodies and changing details of their design. It took Wheeljack for a moment to realize then that this was also happening to _him_ , and that he was also being carried forward by a will that was not his own.

Or was it? His thoughts were beginning to blur, and he couldn’t tell where he started and Crossfireoutburstmishframejackgore began. He didn’t perceive the others as independent enemies anymore, he didn’t perceive himself, they were all the same-

No. No, he couldn’t let this happen to himself!

A flash of lucidity pulled Wheeljack out of his trance. He spied one of the Cyber Ninja’s dropped solitarium daggers and grabbed it, raised it, and plunged it right into his chest. Pain sparked throughout Wheeljack’s entire body, canceling out the other voices and replacing it with agony. He let out a shriek of and collapsed to his knees, the cybermatter absorbing itself fully into his frame like a breath being sucked back into the body.

In moments, Wheeljack realized that he’d punctured his laser core, and found the connections between his spark and his neural circuitry beginning to shut down as his body beginning to engage emergency stasis lock. He couldn’t move, and for now, his processor and optics were the only parts of his system still online, allowing him to watch what was happening. Or more accurately, _forcing_ him.

Crossfire’s body contorted, and his own limbs folded away as he took the form of an enormous, misshapen torso. The Decepticon Cyber Ninja (his name was Scattergore, Wheeljack somehow knew) crawled up this body as he himself split open, dividing at the waist and twisting into the shape of a limb. He attached to one side of Crossfire that seemed most like a “shoulder” while Mastermind took position on the other. She also took the form of an arm, but a disproportionately large one, and it seemed less like a limb and more like Mainframe’s unconverted body twitching and flailing about as parts of Crossfire’s body locked down around her head and shoulders.

Outburst and Skirmish became crude imitations of legs. Their smaller frames meant they were much smaller than the upper body, which caused both their voices to cry out in pain as the thing they were becoming tried to stand up. It couldn’t support its own weight, and so it toppled forward, catching itself and forcing it to support itself with its massive arms. Outburst and Skirmish’s own arms seemed to writhe and snap with pain, sparks and scraping metal being shed from the giant’s crude “knees”.

What followed next was the groan and aching sound of metal splitting as the top of Crossfire’s body began to open up. A new mass tried to rise out of it and take the place where a head should be. But it couldn’t, and pulled and screamed with its new mouth, but all it could manage was shoving itself out of the maw that had torn itself up on the torso. It _was_ a head, and it looked to be formed out of a mass of Crossfire’s internal organs. Wheeljack recognized one of its “eyes” as his commander’s t-cog. It continued to spin, driving against this mockery of transformation, scraping against its housing, and causing showers of sparks. It was glowing with heat as it was clearly overclocked beyond its natural parameters, causing the metal around its “eye socket” to melt and drip down like tears.

The poor, forsaken creature’s gaze found Wheeljack, and it seemed to pause and stare at him.

And in his last fleeting moments of consciousness, its tortured thoughts resounded in Wheeljack’s mind, and he knew its true name:

**Gestalt.**

Then it screamed a horrible scream, and Wheeljack was freed from having to hear its mournful cry as he slipped into the comforting embrace of stasis. 

* * *

“I’m here to debrief you.”

Wheeljack looked up as another Autobot entered his square-shaped, featureless, white-colored room. A room he’d been sitting for several megacycles, ever since he’d awakened. Apparently he’d been discovered by a scouting party, and he’d been unconscious for a full decacycle, and that he’d placed in quarantine, where he’d been poked and prodded all the while. When he came on-line, all the medics and scientists asked him a flurry of questions. Questions for which Wheeljack barely had an answer.

Those fine medical minds had included Ratchet. _The_ Ratchet. Whatever had happened to him, it required the attention of one of the foremost medical experts on Cybertron. It figured. Wheeljack himself had identified their discovery as revolutionary.

But now, with all that had happened weighing on him, he found himself caring little for great discoveries. Instead, he felt nothing but guilt and regret pulling against his spark, dragging him down into a deep malaise.

Wheeljack eyed the Autobot who had come to speak with him. She was a relatively small Autobot, colored red and white. She had two pairs of wheels on her back, which indicated a two-wheeled alt-mode and reminded him of Skirmish, causing him to feel even worse.

“I’ve been debriefed several times in the last nine megacycles,” he replied, wearily. “I don’t know what else I can say to you.”

“I can imagine,” the other Autobot said, sounding sympathetic. She walked over and placed a hand on his shoulder. “You’ve been through a lot, haven’t you?”

Wheeljack’s optics widened at her touch, and he stared for a moment before nodding slowly. He hadn’t expected this, but this was the first bit of sympathy he’d gotten in the long, _long_ megacycles he’d been back on-line.

“My name is Elita-1,” she continued. “I’m one of Optimus Prime’s direct subordinates. Wheeljack, what you’ve experienced, it’s something… something extraordinary. But I don’t suppose you need me to tell you that, do you?”

Wheeljack frowned behind his faceplate. “No, you don’t,” he said bitterly. She wasn’t wrong, but calling it extraordinary made it seem like people were showing the experience far too much esteem “What happened to the others? Where are the others? No one will tell me.”

Elita smiled, and handed Wheeljack a data pad that had been mag-locked to her waist. “Allow me to change that, then.”

Surprised once again, Wheeljack nonetheless took the data pad eagerly. What he saw displayed there simultaneously relieved and distressed him. All three of his comrades, and the two Decepticons, were still alive. At the same time, they were listed as having undergone extensive and “heretofore unknown bodily augmentations”, with “severe damage to their cognitive and operational processing abilities”.

Changed. Twisted. Massive physical and mental damage. But still, they’d _survived_.

Wheeljack’s hands shook as he held the pad. “They’re… they’re alive...” he stammered out.

“But they’ll never be the same,” Elita replied, softly. “Wheeljack, I want you to know that we have our best people taking care of them. Everyone is working around the clock to understand what’s happened to them.”

Wheeljack nodded. He was quiet for a moment longer, before he looked up from the pad.

“It’s not just them, is it?” he asked her

Elita’s optics widened. “How… how did you know?”

“Just before I went offline, my sensors recorded that the energy wave that affected us was spreading,” he explained. “What’s more, I have multiple sensor readers installed throughout my body, undetectable my medical equipment. If you’d known about them, I’m sure the doctors would have removed them, but since they’re not a natural part of my biology and have their own power cores, they can function even if my own processes go offline. It’s…” his voice started to crack, “it’s how I prepare for situations where I’m shut down but still need to my job.”

His hands started to shake, and he continued. “I’ve had a lot of problems with them malfunctioning. They paralyzed my lower body once. But they’re there in case… just in case information is needed...”

On saying that, he looked back down at the data pad. Wheeljack swiped left, bringing up his own information, frowning at what he saw.

“ _Heretofore unknown bodily augmentations.”_

“This should say ‘mutations’, not ‘augmentations’,” he said, sounding bitter again.

Elita frowned, lowering her hand and placing it over Wheeljack’s. “I meant what I said. We’ll get to the bottom of this. For their sake _and_ yours. We’ll-”

“But it’s more than just me!” Wheeljack interrupted. “My sensors, their last known readings recorded a diameter of 500 kliks for that energy wave, and it showed no signs of ebbing.”

“Wheeljack-”

“How much distance did it cover?” he demanded. “How many were affected?!”

Elita was silent for a few moments more, before letting out a sigh.

“We don’t know just how many were affected by the phenomenon, but as for how much _distance_ …” she began. “We’re calling it the Enigma Event. The energy wave spread quickly, before anyone even knew what was happening. By the time you were unconscious, it was likely already covering half a hemisphere. In ten cycles, a full one, in fifteen, a third of the planet, and then, well...”

She took a deep breath, before confirming what Wheeljack already knew.

“Ultimately, it ended up _covering the entirety of Cybertron_.”

Wheeljack felt his entire body going numb, and the pad fell from his hands, clattering to the floor. He’d already deduced what Elita was going to tell him, but hearing it out loud was an entirely different matter.

The entire planet. _All of Cybertron._ An unknown amount of the world’s population of Cybertronians, Autobots and Decepticons alike, and possibly even the organic and inorganics that had allied with both sides and come to reside on the planet. They were _all_ potentially affected by what had happened to him, Crossfire, and the others.

The answer to what had happened and happened and why could only lie with that artifact.

This was all his fault, Wheeljack decided. His fault for not stopping it before it could begin. His hands clenched into his fists, and he looked up at Elita-1 with new determination.

“How can I help?” 

* * *

  _It was on that day that the Combiner Wars began._  

* * *

 “ **Transformers: Combiner Wars”**

**A Transformers tale, by WalkTheTyrannosaur**

**-**

_**Prologue: “ENIGMA”**_  

* * *

**DATA-CON FILES**  
**Database Code:** 700-112  
**Author:** [redacted]

**FILE CW-001: The Cybertronian Civil War**

The Cybertron Civil War has been waged for eight thousand stellar cycles, which is equal to the same number of earth years. It has been fought across planet Cybertron and what was once known as the Cybertronian Empire, along with several unaffiliated planets, including the planet Earth. The war began when the leader of the Planetary Vanguard, Megatron, murdered the Council of Iacon and attempted to assume power. A believer in military superiority and a staunch classist, Megatron believed that Cybertron’s destiny was one of conquest, and that Cybertronians, especially the warrior-class, were the pinnacle of creation.

Though many of the Planetary Vanguard sided with Megatron, leaving him unchallenged, opposition rose up among the peacekeepers and laborers working in the city-state of Iacon. Despite having fewer numbers and significantly less firepower, it was the surprise military genius of the insurgency’s leader, Orion Pax, that led them to successfully drive Megatron’s forces from Iacon. Megatron retreated to the city-state of Kaon, the seat of the Planetary Vanguard’s power, and in time, two factions arose as the planet descended into Civil War: Megatron’s “Decepticons”, formed from the members of the Planetary Vanguard that sided with Megatron, and later joined by members of the economic and scientific elite, as well as Cybertron Intelligence operatives; and the “Autobots”, who consisted primarily of the working-class, scholars, artisans, peacekeepers, and security officers. The Autobots rallied under Orion Pax, the “hero of Iacon”, who would later become known as Optimus Prime

To this day, over 95 % of Cybertron’s populace is involved in the war. The remaining 5 % includes deserters and the dwindling number of neutrals, who have both been the target of reprisal from both sides for their refusal to fight for either cause. At the time of this writing, the Cybertron Civil War can be best described as a “stalemate”.

**File CW-002: “Hot Spots”**

A “hot spot” is the colloquial term for the locations in which Cybertronian sparks originate. They coincide with the presence of naturally occurring energon seams. Energy pulses emitted from Cybertron’s core causes the energon in these seams to ignite, which causes the “blue flash”, a burst of radiation that not only gives sparks life, it converts the surrounding surface of Cybertron into cybermatter, which provides the basis for Cybertronian life.

Since the war began, all known hot spots have been taken under control by the opposing armies. For the purpose of both protecting and stockpile these sparks, they have been stripped of their sparks and cybermatter and placed in a form of stasis. Since then, the known hot spots have been left “fallow”, suggesting that the act of stripping these sparks en masse caused them to become inert. For this reason, the further construction and development of new Cybertronians has been staggered by both sides.

Sparks are still often ignited by smaller energon deposits called “clusters”, but the resulting sparks are of a lesser “intensity” than those associated with most advanced Cybertronians, and instead develop into Cybertronian wildlife.

**File CW-003: Sparks**

Sparks are the core of a Cybertronian life form’s being. A sort of living energy, they are born when energy pulses from the core of Cybertron interact with energon deposits, igniting it and causing both energy sources to pool together in the form of a spark. After bonding to cybermatter, the spark’s energy signature “programs” it to take a rudimentary shape, creating a protoform.

While a spark is the first, and most fundamental, part of a Cybertronian’s being, a spark on its own cannot be considered a life form, and possesses no will of its own. Only when the spark’s laser core, which forms in the process of creating a protoform, is connected to a brain module can a Cybertronian’s life be said to begin.

**File CW-004: Protoforms**

A basic form of Cybertronian life, formed after a spark bonds to cybermatter. A protoform is exactly what its name implies, an amorphous body that has yet to take a defined shape. In this state, the only parts of a Cybertronian’s body that exists are the spark chamber, or “laser core”, the brain module, and the essential organs, such as the transformation cog, or “t-cog”.

In the case of advanced Cybertronians, the customary process is to have the protoform placed within a basic endoskeleton constructed from synthesized cybermatter, allowing them to take a pre-established form, after which elemental programming and induction into Cybertronian society begins. Though this form can undergo modifications and upgrades, its fundamental structure will remain the same.

**File CW-005: Crossfire**

An Autobot who was one of the first to be affected by the mysterious artifact discovered in Sector Hydra. Crossfire has served as a member of the Autobot army since the beginning of the Civil War, and held the position of adjutant to Ultra Magnus, commander of the Autobot Ground Forces. A stern but caring Autobot, Crossfire is the image of an exemplary commanding officer, capable of keeping his subordinates in line through his keen management and professional attitude while also showing them kindness and encouragement. Before the war, Crossfire was a member of the Planetary Vanguard, and rather than join Megatron, he pledged his loyalty to the Autobots out of a belief that it was his duty to carry on the ideal that the Vanguard was meant to protect Cybertron and its people, not lord over it.

Crossfire transforms into an anti-aircraft vehicle, and his specialty is in both long-range bombardment and disabling enemy fliers. Though his focus is on holding already captured territory, Crossfire is more than capable of leading from the front lines, though he tends to delegate and direct from the rear rather than engage the enemy directly.

ADDENDUM: Upon analysis, it was determined that Crossfire sustained the most extensive damage out of all the “Gestalt 5”. Large portions of his body were lacerated, having torn apart from the inside. Furthermore, a significant portion of his internal systems attempted to re-purpose themselves, forcing doctors to amputate them, as they attempted to execute their new functions rather than their proper ones. Most of his vital functions have since been replaced, but his body has not yet accepted a replacement t-cog. It is suspected that he will never regain his ability to transform again. As for his mental state, Crossfire seems to believe that he is still living prior to the war, and constantly inquires about whether or not he will be allowed to return to his duty in the Planetary Vanguard.

**File CW-006: Outburst**

An Autobot who was one of the first to be affected by the mysterious artifact discovered in Sector Hydra. Outburst has always been considered something of a wild card by his superiors due to his short temper and irritability. He has been frequently reassigned due to numerous acts of insubordination. Serving under Crossfire has tempered him somewhat, and he’s gone from being easily angered to simply being frustrated most of the time. He was constructed after the beginning of the war, and has shown a lack of interest in his planet’s history or culture, seeing little value in learning anything not related to his role as a soldier.

Outburst transforms into a hovercraft capable of gliding over both land and bodies of liquid. This allows Outburst to scout the acid wastes and oil canals that crisscross the territory held by his unit, which means Outburst tends to be alone most of the time, as very few Autobots are equipped to accompany him. He has, however, begun to take part in more group missions under Crossfire’s orders, in the hopes it may improve his “people skills”.

ADDENDUM: Outburst’s mutations were relatively less extensive than the other members of the “Gestalt 5”, resulting primarily in the addition of support polymers and reinforcing his load-bearing capabilities, suggesting that his primary function in combination was solely as a lower limb. However, the combined weight of both Crossfire, Mastermind, and Scattergore exceeded the amount he was capable of carrying, caving in a portion of his upper torso and crushing his cranial unit. Despite having his entire body completely repaired, the combination of physical and mental trauma has resulted in retrograde amnesia and a lack of ability to regulate his emotions, leaving him in a near constant state of anger.

**File CW-007: Skirmish**

An Autobot who was one of the first to be affected by the mysterious artifact discovered in Sector Hydra. Skirmish is very young by Cybertronian standard, being only 150 earth-years old. She in fact completed her elemental programming on the planet Earth, rather than Cybertron, and she regards that planet as her homeworld more than she does Cybertron. Skirmish is a bit overeager and a tad unruly, and is always eager to prove herself by arm wrestling or challenging others to a sparring match. She has stated that she wants to become “the next Bumblebee”, a long-serving Autobot who oversaw Skirmish’s training as a scout. She has since been assigned to an active unit on Cybertron as her enthusiasm has successfully won over a number of superiors who share her desire to achieve bigger, greater things.

Skirmish transforms into a two-wheeled vehicle of human design known as a motorcycle. While she is relatively quick and agile in both modes, she has no notable combat specialities, as her training was primarily focused on reconnaissance. Her right arm is equipped with a pulse cannon.

ADDENDUM: Skirmish’s physical damages are a more severe version of those suffered by Outburst, due to her less robust construction and smaller frame. Her mutation failed to compensate for his, and her lack of load-bearing capability resulted in the “Gestalt 5’s” combined form’s weight causing numerous micro-fractures that went undetected during reconstructive surgery. This has resulted in her body being placed in stasis until these fractures can all be identified and repaired. The extent of her mental trauma is yet unknown.

**File CW-008: Mastermind**

A Decepticon who was one of the first to be affected by the mysterious artifact discovered in Sector Hydra. Mastermind was a member of the Ministry of Science before the civil war, known for her experiments in mind and processor augmentation – all of which were under scrutiny for ethical violations by the Iacon Council’s regulatory committee. When Megatron began his campaign, Mastermind was one of the first to pledge her loyalty to the Decepticons. Unfortunately, she did so _after_ Shockwave, who had supported Megatron’s uprising and who Mastermind had long regarded as her academic rival. Mastermind believes that Shockwave cost her place at Megatron’s right hand, and has been chasing his shadow ever since, all while maintaining an air of barely-convincing false cordiality. Ironically, this has caused her to be placed among Shockwave’s support staff.

Mastermind transforms into a satellite capable of propelling itself due to custom-made anti-gravity generators. She wields no traditional weaponry, instead implying a number of devices to impair her enemy’s cognitive functions so that she may disable them. Mastermind calls the radiation generated by these devices her “psycho waves”, but the fact remains that they are a type of radiation already well known to Cybertronian science.

ADDENDUM: Mastermind primarily suffered damage to her cranial unit as a result of being pulled into the “Gestalt 5’s” combined form. Furthermore, her mutation caused a redistribution of her internal systems, causing components from her weapon’s array to be relocated to her processor. While Mastermind remains comparatively lucid, the mere act of _thinking_ causes her to emit radiation from her head and affect those around her. Upon realizing her new abilities, Mastermind attempted to use them to escape. In doing so, she discovered she enjoyed the sensation, causing her to become caught up in inducing mental trauma to the medical staff. She has since been restrained and quarantined until a way can be found to safely remove her mental augmentations, as efforts to induce stasis without harming her have resulted in further trauma to her caretakers. Mastermind has only become crueler and more unhinged in the time since.

**File CW-009: Scattergore**

A Decepticon who was one of the first to be affected by the mysterious artifact discovered in Sector Hydra. A Cybertronian of few words, Scattergore leaves his actions to do his talking for him, making it difficult for his fellow Decepticons to tell what he’s thinking. In truth, there’s not much to tell – Scattergore is rather simple, and he’s just a soldier first and foremost, with little interest beyond his duty and fighting the enemy. His background prior to the war is as of yet completely unknown to the Autobots.

Scattergore has been trained as a Cyber Ninja, making him an expert saboteur, assassin, and bodyguard for high-ranking Decepticons such as Shockwave. He transforms into a black automobile of human design, which he employed as a disguise while on a mission on Earth, and his primary weapons are solitarium-edged daggers. It has been determined that after this mission was completed, he was assigned to be Shockwave’s praetorian guard.

ADDENDUM: The damage to Scattergore’s body was extensive, but his surgeons reported complete success in repairing him. Of all the “Gestalt 5”, Scattergore shows the most compatibility with his mutations, and for all intents and purposes, is considered to be physically fit and functional. However, since coming back on-line, he has shown only baseline mental activity in that he understands and responds to instructions while never speaking or showing no will or independent thought of his own. As of this writing, he remains in an Autobot medical facility, physically healthy but mentally unresponsive. His caretakers state that he spends his megacycles sitting quietly in his room, reacting only when spoken to or to refuel himself.

**File CW-010: Wheeljack**

An Autobot who was one of the first to be affected by the mysterious artifact discovered in Sector Hydra, but who was not absorbed into the composite “Gestalt” entity that emerged. Possesses genius-level intellect, but his reclusive tendencies and lack of ambition have resulted in little advancement or notoriety within the Autobot ranks. His various commanding officers have all reported numerous “accidents” as a result of Wheeljack’s “tinkering”. Prior to the war, Wheeljack participated in underground street racing in Nuon City, where he developed customized engines and boosters for himself and his fellow racers.

Wheeljack transforms into a high-speed Cybertronian racer. He typically does not carry weapons, and instead equips himself with sensor, diagnostic, and mechanical equipment. He is extraordinarily mechanically inclined and an ingenious inventor, but his lack of discipline results in his ignoring safety standards and focusing primarily upon what he’d like to create rather than what’s practical or necessary for his unit.

ADDENDUM: Wheeljack’s experiences in Sector Hydra appear to have resulted in a huge shift in his levels of ambition, drive, and initiative. He has expressed a desire to contribute to the study of the effects of the so-called “Enigma Event”, and given his close experience with the unknown artifact and his having proven to be affected by the phenomenon, Autobot Command has deigned to honor his request. The current state and nature of his augmentations are currently classified by Autobot High Command.

**File CW-011: Elita-1**

A veteran of the early days of the Cybertronian Civil Wars, Elita-1, then known as “Ariel”, was a Commander in Iacon’s peacekeeping forces. During Megatron’s uprising, she allied with the laborer, Orion Pax, and together they were successful in driving Megatron’s forces from Iacon. She has since been made a member of Autobot High Command, and is considered to be a core member of Optimus Prime’s inner circle. It is known that the pair are extremely close, as a result of their long history of fighting together. Elita-1 personally oversees a wide network of spies dispersed throughout Decepticon military, and personally leads covert attacks on Decepticon installations. Many of her operations have targeted installations overseen by Megatron’s Chief Science Officer, Shockwave

Elita-1 transforms into a stunt motorcycle of custom design. Her primary weapon is a missile bow-gun, which fires ammunition that uses experimental spark-seeking technology to home in on her opponents in the event that her otherwise impeccable aim fails her. Despite her small size, Elita-1 is considered one of the finest combatants in the Autobot ranks, and she is even considered to be a worthy opponent by several high ranking Decepticons.

**File CW-012: Shockwave**

Shockwave is former member of the Council of Iacon and was also once the head of the Ministry of Science, and has long since been obsessed with logic. In Megatron, he saw a like-minded individual, and believed that an alliance between the scientific elite and the warrior-class was the most logical means of attaining prosperity for the Cybertronian race. He personally aided Megatron in attacking and murdering the Council, and it was Shockwave who convinced the majority of the Science Ministry to follow him in swearing loyalty to the Decepticons. For his role in helping bring Megatron to power, Shockwave was made Chief Science Officer, and he oversees many of the innovations that drive the Decepticon war machine. However, anyone who knows Shockwave closely also knows that his loyalty is only to what he deems logical, and should that ever conflict with Megatron’s designs, Shockwave will follow his own course rather than remain loyal to his leader.

Shockwave transforms into a high-powered mobile energy cannon. In addition to firing destructive blasts, his attacks emit waves of force that project outwards regardless of whether they are actually struck by the beam. His body is also equipped with a high amount of sensor and diagnostic equipment, used for field research. Despite his cyclopean optical construction, Shockwave possesses a full range of vision, and in spite of what many organics assume, his cranial structure is entirely natural and not considered unusual by other Cybertronians.

**Author's Note:**

> So, that's the kick off to my take on "Combiner Wars"! I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did writing it. I've tried and failed to make an ongoing Transformers story, but this time I hope to go the distance with it. Before wrapping things up, I do have some notes.
> 
> First of all, this prologue will serve as its own chapter, with the rest of the story coming as its own collected, multi-chapter work. Furthermore, I also plan to do side stories set between or before certain events to expand on the universe I'm building. The first chapter of "Combiner Wars" will also involve a time skip, so don't expect it to pick up right where this left off.
> 
> Second, while I did note that characterizations will differ, I will note that Wheeljack as seen here is quite different from his depiction in other media, in that he is less outgoing, self-assured, and more reclusive than his depictions in various media. This is Wheeljack at what is basically the beginning of his story, so please keep that in mind.
> 
> Third, OCs will continued to be used in this story, whether they are of my own creation or someone else's. For the ones used in this story, each one is based on an existing toy. Crossfire is imagined as a green recolor of Combiner Wars Onslaught, Outburst is a purple and orange recolor of Titans Return Seaspray, Skirmish is ROTF Knock Out in orange and black, Mastermind is derived from Energon Shockblast but with a new head, and Scattergore is an entirely black recolor of Unite Warriors Flowspade with new weapons. Their names are all based on board games now owned by Hasbro, also.
> 
> Fourthly, the "Data-Con Files" will be a regular feature to flesh out the universe elements and characters. I figure since I'm taking from a variety of sources and introducing my own takes whole cloth, it'd be useful to readers to keep track of things.
> 
> Finally, for those of you keeping track of these things, Elita-1 is based on her movie incarnation's first toy, the Target exclusive scout-class figure from the first movie line. Wheeljack is naturally based on his Combiner Wars toy, and Shockwave is derived from his Legends-class release from the same line. Expect more re-purposings like Elita in the future.
> 
> I'd also like to thank everyone who beta read or suggested things for this story over the past months I was writing it! It is most appreciated.
> 
> That's all I have! See you next time.


End file.
